US Congress delaying aid to Syrian rebels

Congressional committees are holding up a plan to send US weapons to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because of fears such deliveries will not be decisive and the arms might end up in the hands of Islamist militants, five US national security sources said.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees have expressed reservations behind closed doors at the effort by US President Barack Obama's administration to support the insurgents by sending them military hardware.

None of the military aid the United States announced weeks ago has arrived in Syria, according to an official from an Arab country and Syrian opposition sources.

Democrats and Republicans on the committees worry the weapons could reach factions like the Nusra Front, which is one of the most effective rebel groups but has also been labeled by the United States as a front for al-Qaida in Iraq.

Committee members also want to hear more about the administration's overall Syria policy, and about how it believes its arms plan will affect the situation on the ground, where Assad's forces have made recent gains.

Funding that the administration advised the congressional committees it wanted to use to pay for arms deliveries to Assad's opponents has been temporarily frozen, the sources said.

"As noted at the time we announced the expansion of our assistance to the Supreme Military Council, we will continue to consult closely with Congress on these matters," Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said on Monday.

Technically, the administration does not need specific congressional approval either through public legislation or some kind of legislative sanction process to move ahead with the weapons plan. The president already has legal authority to order such shipments, several sources said.

However, under tacit rules observed by the executive branch and Congress on intelligence matters, administrations will not move ahead with programs like weapons deliveries to the Syrian opposition if one or both of the congressional intelligence committees express serious objections.

The White House announced in June that it would arm vetted groups of Syrian rebels, after two years of avoiding involvement in the civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.

Anti-Assad groups have been calling for more advanced weaponry since the government launched a new offensive in central Syria.

Reuters

(China Daily 07/10/2013 page12)